The Daily

Regina Carter

April 21, 2011 at 4:00 AM

Critic's Pick
Release Date: 2011-04-21

Armed with the funds and creative freedom offered by a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (aka a “genius grant”), jazz violinist Regina Carter dove into the archives of New York City’s World Music Institute in search of inspiration. The results of this exploration see ethnographic field recordings ? including ones based on Ugandan Jews ? used as building blocks for Carter’s seventh solo release, Reverse Thread, which has been described as “a celebration of traditional African music reimagined from a modern perspective.” The album, which Time deemed “breathtakingly daring,” channels African folk melodies with notable help from kora (a West African harp) virtuoso Yacouba Sissoko. For Saturday’s concert at the Jo Long Theatre, Carter and Sissoko join accordionist Will Holshouser, bassist Jesse Murphy, and percussionist Alvester Garnett to weave a musical tapestry with Reverse Thread. $31, 8pm, Jo Long Theatre, 226 N Hackberry, (210) 207-7211, thecarver.org, reginacarter.com.